A Malta-flagged cargo ship with 15 Georgians and three Turks onboard has been pirated in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia, EU's anti-piracy mission, EU NAVFOR, said on September 8.

OLIB G, which is owned by a Greek company and crewed by a Batumi-based Georgian maritime crewing agency Greenwich XXI, was pirated early on September 8.

Sergo Devadze, director of Greenwich XXI, told Georgian television station, Imedi, on September 9 that ship was en route from port of Alexandria to one of the ship breaking yards in India.

Devadze’s son is among crew members of the pirated ship. Other Georgian crew members are also from the town of Batumi, Sergo Devadze said. He also said that his firm had no further information.

According to the EU NAVFOR, after the ship reported that a skiff was approaching and after several unsuccessful attempts to make contact with the vessel, U.S. warship deployed a helicopter to check on the ship. The helicopter was able to identify two pirates on board OLIB G, EU NAVFOR said.

It also said that the pirated ship had been sailing west in the internationally recommended transit corridor, an area where international navies coordinate the patrol of maritime transits.